Mr LATHAM(12.38 p.m.) —The government is doubly damned in the eyes of small business because it has not only refused to accept a $200 exemption on FBT to lower the compliance costs to help small business but also refused to index its own policy. Small business around Australia really should be seeing the con in this. This is an absolute con, as was your policy on the uplift factor on provisional tax. That was frozen for one year only and now you are doing it on the FBT exemption. What you are basically saying is, `We had a policy of $100 but, as inflation moves forward, our policy is frozen by 1996-97 dollars.' That is the absolute shame in this.

Mr Miles —Why didn't you do it?

Mr LATHAM —I am here doing it now. I used to sit up there where the Chief Government Whip now sits. That is why I am doing it now. He has not had the integrity to back up his words and his support for the $200 exemption. He thought it so desirable he voted it down. I think the indexation is desirable and that is why I am here supporting it.

Small business around the country should understand this government's hypocrisy; they should understand this government's double standards. In the government's own budget papers, this measure that I am suggesting costs next to nothing—absolutely so small for outlays and the Commonwealth budget but so significant for small business. Of course, the double standard is that, if they were a big business or one of the mates of the Treasurer (Mr Costello) from Collins Street, Melbourne, they would be in for a big slice of government business welfare; they would be in for a slice of government subsidies. We saw that with the $50 million subsidy that this government is paying to big tollway companies, big banks, big construction companies—$50 million of benefit on those tollways. Yet for small business, on a measure that is so inexpensive, you won't even give them a cracker. You won't pay a cracker of cross-indexation.

Mr Miles —On a point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker: we have had that debate about tollways in debates on previous legislation. That is not relevant to this topic and I ask that you bring him back to it.

Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER (Mr Vaile) —I thank the parliamentary secretary. The member for Werriwa might restrict his comments to the amendment at hand.

Mr LATHAM —Touchy, touchy about those comparisons. Touchy, touchy about the deal that big business gets out of this government compared with the deal that small business gets. This is a fair proposition: to index your own policy to make sure that it is not a policy with a sunset, that the provision is not frozen in 1996-97 dollar terms, so that it is actually moving forward as the economy changes and inflation grows.

Small business would welcome this initiative. It is a terrible shame that they have not got the $200 provision. That really is sound policy. It makes a lot of sense. The budget papers show that it is so inexpensive that you should at the very least support this amendment for the indexation of your own policy, your own legislation.

   Question put:

   That the amendment (Mr Latham's ) be agreed to.